🔗 Share this article

"A family residing in north London wants to find an extraordinary and qualified instructor to support their most junior child on his early path to becoming an British gentleman."

When reading this post, you might easily skip the phrase "initial stages" as just figurative language.

But, it may be the most significant part of this unusual position posting, as it attempts to find a tutor for a 12-month-old.

Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the unidentified family advertised their call for the £180k-a-year tutor, who has to be "an exceptional individual".

In recent few weeks, the post has received interest across the news, with several asking why?

Progressive Approach

Adam Caller, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is assisting the family in their quest, stated that despite first scepticism, he found the idea "visionary", and "innovative".

When he consulted the family, he noted they recognized the unusual nature of their request, and how immature their son is.

But, they stated that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to hire a tutor, as they had postponed until their elder sibling was five, and by that stage "cultural influence had already set in".

What exactly does the family indicate by "cultural predisposition"?

It's "comprehensive", he responded. "How you eat, the way you speak".

He explained the firstborn had adopted "extremely delicate, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural habits. The family informed Adam they wished to avoid this pattern to recur with their new baby.

The plan: To bring in a UK tutor, who needs to speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.

Osmotic Learning

"Much of the education at the beginning here is somewhat absorbed naturally," stated the CEO.

It's via this osmosis that the family are hoping the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.

He explained the tutor must be somebody who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".

"The instructor just has to be the suitable individual, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he commented.

Expense Not a Factor

The family told Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have familiarity of or passion in horse riding, skiing, artistic pursuits and musical activities so as to inspire the child in a wide range of hobbies.

Furthermore though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a selection of courses so the child would be "equestrian training and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".

In the family's view, helping their son develop into a "UK sophisticate" will lead to achievement and open doors.

"For all the pros and cons of that, because it's certainly a class statement," he notes.

Yet, despite all this instruction in "UK identity", could the child pick up alleged cultural influence from the multicultural family he lives with anyway?

"Absolutely", said he. "They realize this could fail, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'why not attempt it and we should start as early as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.

Overly Optimistic

There are some in the education sector who share similar reservations.

Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who supplies personal educators, stated that "the development of becoming bicultural, or indeed, becoming oneself, is something that must be lived into, not manufactured."

The expert noted that he had relocated from China to the United Kingdom at the time of 7 years old, and had been raised experiencing and living dual heritages. He progressed to study at Cambridge University.

"The concept that a single person can act as a living vessel of Britishness, a person who can in some way transfer the attributes of a English gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me naive and unrealistic," he stated.

"From my perspective, having a typically British tutor from infancy will not instantly create the goal they desire.

"I did not have that kind of mentor, and however I have been fortunate enough to experience many of the experiences they hope for their son."

He stated: "The truth is, self-identity cannot be dictated from the outside; it must be embraced, and it must originate internally."

Acquiring Englishness

Naturally, UK identity is something the CEO thinks can be educated – and sold.

"I think the reality that the world views us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating